Demountable rim



June 23, 19.731..v v Wg STARK if'? DEMOUNTABLE RIM Filed July 5. 1928 i @www my NT4/M.

Patented June 23, 1931 PATENT OFFICE JOHN WILLIAMSTARK, F BOWLIG GREEN, KENTUCKY application mea July y5,V 192s. serial No. 290,558.

My invention relates to demountable rims andhas to do, more particularly, with devmountable yrims of the transplit type and the means for expanding j andcontraicting such rims. l lVith the advent of balloon tires, the demountable' rims used on automobile wheels have become of smaller diameter and greater width with the result that they are stiffer 1G than Vthey used to be. As a result of this, it has become more of'a problem to collapse such transplit rims in order to remove the tires therefrom. The principal object'of my v inventionis to provide a simp-le and rela tively cheap construction for connecting the ends lof a transplitrim which shall form an efficient rimfoperating means for expanding andjcontracting the tran'spli't rim with ease. A .furtherobject' of my'invention is to providea transplit demountable rim having a deviceV fr expanding and vcontracting the rim, which-'ismade of a few parts and which can be manufactured at a low cost. Another object of "my invention `is to provide a rimoperating rlever which is quickly detachable from'the rimand `can be insertedinopera tiveposi-tion very quickly-andeasily, so as to facilitate'. assembly and reduce the cost of manufacture ofthe rim and rim-expanding '30 a'ndwcontracting means. Y

VFurther objects, and objects relating to details andl economies of operation and construction, will definitely appearffr'om the detailedfdescription to follow. In one' in` stance, I'accomplishl the objects'ofmy invention 'by the'. devices andfmeans set forth inthe following specification. My invention is; clearly r defined and pointed Vout inV the appended' claims. Av structure constituting a preferred embodiment of ymyyinventi'on is illustrated in the 'accompanying drawings,

forming a part of this 'a}')p'li"cation,in which:

Figure `l'fi's` a-view, in side elevation, of a rim' embodfying'my; invention, showing in dotted lines the operating tool applied-;

' FigJZfisa-topplan view-"of thatl portion of the rimfadjacent the split; v Y Fig@ is a bettelnA rplfamviewof'saidrim portion and'the-rimexp'andingand 'contract Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, sectional view through the rim, at the split, showing the rim contracted Fig. 5 is a view, in perspective, of the rimoperating lever detached; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the operating tool used to turn the rim-operating lever about its pivot.

In the drawings, the same reference nu merals refer to the same parts throughout the several views.

In general, I accomplish the objects of my invention by providing a transplit demountable rim with a pair of shackle members which are `lined to ,the rim onk opposite sides of the split and extend inwardly therefrom. Cooperating with these shackle members, I provide a rim-operating lever, one end of which pivots on one of the shackle members while the other end engages the other shackle member. The operating lever may be provided with a projecting tongue, which is adapted to receive an operating tool for rocking the lever about its pivot. The lever may also have a projecting outer edge portion, 7

which fits in alined slots in the opposite ends of the rim base, so as to maintain the lateral alinement of the opposite ends of the rim. The lever may be quickly and easily detached from the rim, and, to this end, I provide it with notches in the opposite ends thereof, one notch engagingeach of the shackle members. A latch maybe provided if desired, which engages a portion of the lever and prevents the rocki'ng'movement thereof to collapse the rim, until the latch has been moved out of locking position.

Referring to the numbered parts of the drawings, which illustratethe preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown a demountable rim 10, which is split, at 11. Alined` slots 12y and 13 are formed in the central'portion of therim base on opposite sides of the split therein, as shown best in Fig. 2. A shackle member 14 of U-shape is rigidly fastened to one end of the rim, as shown in Fig. 1, and extends inwardly therefrom. This shackle member may besecured to the rim by welding; or it may be riveted thereto, as shown at 15in/Fig: 2".r Simi1a-r1y,a shacklefmember 4Q lapsed, the latch 25 is swung to one side and 16 is secured to the opposite end of the` rim, for instance, by riveting, as shown at 17 in Fig. 2. A rim-operating lever 18 is provided, which comprises a iiat bar mountededgewise with respect to the rim base. This lever has a notch 19 formed in one end thereof and a longer notch 2O in the opposite end. The rimoperating lever is mounted in position, as shown in Fig. 1, with the notch 19 receiving the shackle member 14, and the notch'20 receiving the shackle member 16. The-portion of the lever, in which is provided the notch 20, has a rearwardly-extending tongue 21, which is adapted to receive thesocket 32y of an operating tool 29, which forms, in effect,'an`

extension handle, uponthe leverto give'increased leverage for rocking the same about its pivot. The outer edge portion" 22 4of the lever is adapted to lie in the alined slots 12 and 13 and,fthus, maintains the ends of the rim in lateral alinement withrespect to each other. rlhe outeredge portion ofthe lever Aimmediately above the notch 19 may be curved, at 24, in order to permit this portion of the lever torockupon the rim base as the klever pivots about the shackle 14. 'A notch 23 is formed inthe inner edge of the lever and is vadapted to receive one ofthe rim-securing.

boltseXtending through the felly ofthe wheel so as to form a driving connection between the rim and the felly. A latch 25 is provided which is pivoted to the rim base by the rivet 27, and has'a lip 26 on one edge by which the latchmay be swung about its pivot. The latch is shownin operative vposition in Figs. 1 and 3, withVV the tip of the latch vunderlying the portion 28 of the lever so as to preventthe lever from being rockedabout' its pivot on the, shackle 14. Whenthe rim is to be colthe lever can'then be freely rocked about the pivot 14 through the slot 13 for the purpose of. collapsing the-rim.

V.In Fig. 6' I have shown a tool to be used connection'with this rim-operating lever.

rEhis tool comprises the body portion 29 which is offset, at A81, and has a socket 32 at one, end adapted to :fit onthe tongue21of the lever.

socket 30 may be provided, if desired, ,onl the other end of this tool, tolit the nuts on the l rim-securing bolts which are used for fastening the demountablev rim on thev felly/.of the wheel.

fllVhenpthe demoulntablel rimis removed from the wheel, andis to be collapsedl for the purpose of removingthe .tire therefrom, the

-operator applies thesocket 32 of the voperating tool to the tongue 21 of the .operating lever and, after having moved the/latch 25 to one side,swings therend 21-of the lever inwardly with respect to the rim. rllhis causes theleverto rock about its pivoton the shackle 14', and the engagement of the notch-20i'with the shackle 16 draws the correspondingend of the rim `radially inwardand .then causes it culty. When a new tire has been applied, the Y parts can be returned to their normal position by simplyfreversing the movement of the operating lever. Y

lt will be seen but few parts and that it'can be manufac- -tured vvery cheaply and easily. The lever is detachable or separable from the rim and may be'quickly inserted in operative position by separating the rimk ends Y vcircumferentially suiiiciently to allow the shackles 14 and 16 to enter the -notches 19 and 20, respectively,'of

the lever. The'resilience of the rim-then retains the lever inoperative position, This lends to the ready manufacture and assembly of the parts and reduces the cost of manufacture. Y f L A l am aware that the particular embodiment of my invention illustrated in this application may-be varied considerably without departure from the spirit of my invention and, therefore, I claim my invention broadly, as indicated by the appended claims.

`What IV claim is 1. The combination of a onepiece transplit demountable rim, arim-operating lever hinged at one end toan end of the rim, a pintle member secured-to the otherend of the rim, the other end of4 said lever being longitudinally notched kto 'constitutey a fork. in which said-pintle member is held by the inherent yelasticity of the rim,- and means by which said lever may be swungjto make or break the rim. l Y

2. The combination ofaone-piecetransplit demountable rim, Va pair-.fof pintle members onsaid rim at opposite sides of itssplit, a rim operating levery terminating in forked poir-` that this device is made of extendingzradially into said lever interme-v Y diate said forked port-ions and-bywhich said rimY maybe keyed'to the felly of a wheeL-and means 'by which said leverrmayvbe swung to make orbreak the rim. f

4. The combination ofaone-piece transplit demountable rim, a Y rim-operating lever hinged at one endA to .an-end ofthe rim, a

pintle member secured to the othervend'ofV the rim, the other-end of said leverV being deeply notched longitudinally to constitute a fork in Vwhich said. pintlemember is held by the inherent elasticity of the rim, oneof the `branches of said fork being of such size and length as to constitute a member by which the lever may be swung to make or break the rim.

5. The combination of a transplit demountable rim, a pair of pintlemembers fixed to the rim on opposite sides of its split and adjacent thereto, a rime-operating lever ulcrumed on one pintle and having one arm l@ hinged at its extremity to the other pintle, and having its other arm deeply notched, longitudinally, to provide a pair of spaced tongues, one tting in a slot in the rim base, the other tongue Well spaced from the rim base and capable of facile engagement by a tool for rocking the lever, and means engageable in said notch for locking the operating lever in position. With said tonguelitted in the slot of the rim base. Y

2@ 6. The combination of a one-piece transplit demountable rim, a rim-operating lever hinged at one end to an end of the rim, a pintle member secured to the other end of the rim, said lever having its other end provided With a deep longitudinal notch in Which said pintle member is held by the inherent elasticity of the rim, said notch dividing the free arm of the lever into two tongues, one

fittedV in a slot in the rim base, the other Well 3e spaced from the rim base and capable of facile engagement by a tool for rocking the lever, and means engageable in said notch for locking the first mentioned tongue in the slot of the rim base. i

3.5 7. The combination of a transplit demountable rim having alined slots formed in the adjacent ends of a rim, a pair of shackle members flXed to the rim adjacent to but on opposite sides of the split and extending inwardly 4o from the rim base, a rim operating lever terminating at each end in a fork in which a shackle member is received and held by the inherent elasticity of the rim, said lever being disposed edgeWise to the rim base and 4x1 having its ,outermost edge portion positioned Yin said slots and maintaining alinement of the endsV of the rim.

' JOHN WILLIAM STARK. 

